The Fortune Quilt (29 page)

I pause for a moment, take a deep breath and make my way to his cabin. My hand shakes as I knock on the door. Despite the two-hour drive, I have no idea what I’m going to say. It takes him a moment, but eventually the door opens, and there he is. His hair’s a mess, his shirt is splattered with paint, and he’s as gorgeous as ever.

“Hey,” I say.

He stares at me. It seems to take him a moment to form a response. Then he smiles. “Hey.”

“I was just in the neighborhood,” I say. “I thought I’d stop in and say hi.”

“Yeah.” He gives a confused little laugh. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

There’s a long moment in which we just look at each other, and then he gives his head a little shake and steps back, holding the door open to let me inside. “I’m sorry. Come in. You’ve gotta be freezing.”

“I’m fine,” I say, but walk inside at his invitation. As he closes the door behind me, the room catches my attention. Well, not the room so much as what’s in it.

Paintings. New ones. Everywhere. On the couch. On the floor, leaning against the walls, on the kitchen counter. What’s as interesting as the fact that there are so many new paintings is the subject matter.

Quasitoado. Well, not
 
all
 
Quasitoado. There are two leaning against the wall that are definitely Quasi, all hunchbacked and mutant-faced and cute as hell. The rest seem to be Quasi evolving from an ugly sugar dish into a real frog. The settings around him are all familiar, though. I recognize Brandy’s couch, the counter at Art’s Desire, the mosaic table outside the Café. Individually, the paintings are neat. Quirky. But together, there’s something really touching about seeing fugly Quasi grow into a beautiful frog. A real frog.

“Wow,” I say, unable to tear my eyes away from the paintings.

“Yeah,” he says with a laugh. “I’ve been working out some issues, I think.”

“So…” I work for a minute, trying to put my thoughts into words. “Quasi was your inspiration?”

“Well…” He looks at his shoes, the paintings, the coffee table. Everything but me. “He kind of represented a lot for me.” He finally meets my eyes. “I, uh, I’ve been working on the last of the series. There’s a gallery in Tucson that might be interested, actually. I sent them some pictures, and they asked me to come up next week.”

“That’s great!” I smile up at him. “Your work should be seen. It’s incredible.”

“Thanks.” We just stand there, our eyes locked for a long moment, then Will breaks the silence. “So. Um. Happy New Year.”

“Happy New Year.” I take a deep breath and laugh nervously. “You’re probably wondering what I’m doing here.”

He keeps his eyes on mine. “Little bit.”

I blink hard against the tears blurring my vision, and my breath comes out in a hitch. “I miss my frog.”

His eyebrows knit. “You miss… what? Quasitoado?”

I sniffle and nod. “The reading, that Brandy gave me? It said to accept the book, return the frog, take the cab. And I did it, I did everything just the way the reading told me. I tried to have faith, Will, I really tried, but you didn’t come back to me.” I swipe at my face. “I thought that if I did it all, my life would work out right, but it didn’t, because I don’t think it can be right without you. And maybe you don’t want me and maybe I’m just supposed to let you go. I don’t know. But if it comes down to having faith or knowing I did everything in my power to keep you in my life, then I’m just gonna have to be one of those people with no faith, because I don’t have it in me to want something this much and not try to make it work.”

I keep my eyes on the floor, biting the inside of my cheek to stop the crying, but it’s useless. Then Will puts his fingers under my chin and raises my face up to look at him.

“I was coming,” he says.

I blink at him. “What?”

He smiles and swipes a tear from my cheek. “My plan was to go to Tucson. Get the showing. Send you an invite. Then, when you showed up at the gallery, I was going to be all dressed up and smelling so good that you wouldn’t be able to tell me to get lost.”

I laugh. “I wouldn’t tell you to get lost.”

“Well,” he says, smiling dreamily down at me. Then he takes in a breath. “Oh, and I was going to ply you with wine. You know. Hedge my bets.”

“Oh,” I say, my voice squeaky under the tears. “That would have been really nice.”

He moves his hand to my shoulder and steps closer. “That’s okay. I like this way, too.”

He leans down and kisses me, then pulls me into a hug. We start to sway to the muted music coming from Brandy’s house, and I rest my head against his chest, listening to his heart beat. It’s a good moment for me, one of my better ones, and I close my eyes to properly enjoy it.

“I’m not giving up the frog, you know,” he says. I pull my head back and look up to see him smiling down at me. “We’re a package deal.”

“I see.” I wrap my arms tighter around his waist. “So, what? Are we going to have to work out some shared custody deal?”

“I’m thinking, maybe, you know, if things work out, I can find an apartment up in Tucson. You know, so Quasi doesn’t have to travel so far to see you. It’s really not good for him. He gets impatient.”

I grin. “Yeah. I can understand that.”

“Then…” He leans his face down and kisses my neck. “Maybe I can have him when I’m in town, and you can keep him when I’m on assignment.”

“Mmmm,” I say as Will’s hands slide under my coat, slipping it off my shoulders. “Yeah, I think that would definitely be the best solution.”

He puts one hand on my face and we kiss for a long time, only breaking when we hear an explosion of cheers coming from Brandy’s house.

Will laughs. “So, are you ready to ring in the new year?”

I take my coat from him and toss it over Quasi, who was watching us from his perch on the coffee table.

“Now I am,” I say.

The End

Thanks for reading my book! If you enjoyed it, I have some others you might like:

Time Off For Good Behavior

Maybe Baby

The Comeback Kiss

A Little Ray Of Sunshine

Ex And The Single Girl

You can find them all on Amazon, or stop by my website at LaniDianeRich.com.

Thanks again!

- Lani